The Unknown
by unknown5
Summary: Takes place after IWRY, Buffy leaves Sunnydale because she's pregnant
1. mystery

Title: The unknown  
  
Disclaimer: Only the ideas are mine.  
  
  
  
I'll never forget, I'll never forget. Buffy sat straight up in her bed, breathing hard. Not quite comprehending her surroundings. Then everything slowly came back to her, the dream about her and Angel. Buffy felt sick to her stomach so she ran down the hall to the bathroom. The noise caused Willow to wake up. "Buffy, are you ok?" she called. "Fine" she heard a voice say from down the hall. A couple minutes later Buffy walked into the room wiping her mouth with a towel. "How ya feeling Buff?" Willow asked, "You haven't been the same ever since you went to see Angel in L.A. Are you ready to talk about it? It's been a month already." "That's the thing Willow, there is nothing to talk about, I only saw Angel for 10 minutes and yet I feel closer to him now more then ever" Buffy replied. "And these dreams that I keep having about him turning human and then having to turn back again to save me don't help either." She added. "Oh Buffy" Willow said as she climbed on Buffy bed to comfort her as Buffy started to sob. The two girls stayed like that for an hour until there was a knock on the door.  
  
"I'll get it" Willow said " You just rest." Willow got up to answer the door. When she opened it there was Riley standing there with his corn- fed Iowa boy grin on his face. "Hey will, is Buffy here" he said. "Yah, but she's not feeling too good right now so maybe you should let her rest" Willow replied. "Alright just let her know I stopped by ok?" Riley said. "Sure thing Riley see you later" she said as she shut the door. I just don't like him willow thought to her self as she went to check on how Buffy was doing. "Who was that" Buffy asked. "No one" Willow said "you just rest ok."  
  
The next day Willow, Buffy and Xander were eating lunch at Giles. "Well Buffy, you look a lot better then yesterday" Willow said. "Thanks Will" Buffy said with a weak smile. "I just want you guys to know I love you all a lot" Buffy said. "Easy Buff, It's not like your dieing" Xander said. "Your not dieing right?" "No I am not dieing, I just wanted to make sure you guys knew that" she replied with a bigger smile then before. "Ok since that's settled, we love you too Buffy" Xander added. "Well guys I better go to class, so I'll see you guys…later" Buffy said as she gave each one a hug. As Buffy walked out of Giles apartment Xander, Willow and Giles each looked at each other a shrugged.  
  
Buffy rushed back to her dorm room, grabbed some clothes and threw them in a bag. She grabbed all her money and some of Willows knowing that she wouldn't mind and took off towards the bus station. She didn't want to use all her money on a plane ticket so she figured the Greyhound bus would have to do. Now she just had to decide where to go. There was a bus leaving for some town in Iowa in 15 minutes but she didn't want to take the risk of running into her baby's father there so she choose to go to Colorado instead. She didn't know anyone there so no one would know about her being the slayer and she and her baby would be safe, hopefully.  
  
Doctor, you need to check again because there is no way that am only 6 weeks pregnant! A hysterical voice was heard saying by everyone in the waiting room at the Colorado Planned Parenthood Clinic. The 3 teenage girls looked at each other smiling knowingly at each other. They had all been there before. Thinking the father of your baby was someone and then finding out just how old your baby really was can be stressful. Poor girl they all thought as Buffy walked out of the doctors office.  
  
Buffy walked down the street not really headed anywhere. She walked past a diner called "Anne's place" with a sign in the window Help Wanted. Buffy needed a job and her baby needed something eat, besides she had waitress experience, remembering that time she went to L.A. after sending Angel to hell. "Oh Angel" Buffy thought sadly. He wouldn't understand that Buffy was pregnant and she didn't even know who the father was. 


	2. Mystery solved, sorta

Chapter 2  
  
Picks up right where Chapter 1 ended  
  
As Buffy walked into the Diner it seemed everyone turned to stare at her. She was sure they couldn't tell she was pregnant but she guessed there wasn't much going on in this small town in Colorado. That put a smile on her face as she thought about the small Diner and the small town. No vampires, no demons, but especially no slaying. She would finally have a normal life, sort of. She walked up the cash register to face a girl about her age. "Hi, I saw your sign in the window and I was wondering if the job opening was still… open?" Buffy said. "Yes it is but are you sure you want to work here?" the girl said with a nice smile spreading across her face. "Sure I do, at least I hope I do" Buffy said, "what exactly is the job opening for anyway?" This brought another smile to the girls face. "It's just a simple waitress position, job pays only $6.00, you still interested?" the girl replied. "Yes I am, I just moved here and I really need a job." Buffy managed to choke out. "Well then you're hired, by the way my name's Grace and that's my dad John working behind the grill and that's my mom over there by the jukebox. Come on I'll show you around" Grace said as she started to lead Buffy to back. "Thank you, Thank you so much, oh, by the way my name is Buf.. Anne."  
  
After Grace showed Anne around the Diner they got to talking and it came out that Anne didn't really have a permanent place to stay. So Grace told Anne that she had wanted to move out of her parent's house but she just needed a roommate. Anne gladly jumped at the opportunity. Even though she didn't know Grace very well she could tell that she was a good person but Anne knew before they got a place together, she would have to tell Grace about her pregnancy. "Grace, before we move in I need to tell you something" Anne stammered. "Look, if it's about you being pregnant, don't worry about it" Grace cut in. "How, how did you know I was pregnant?" Anne asked "Well I was in the doctor's office this morning when you came out and well everyone there heard you yelling at the doctor" Grace said quietly " I was there because I'm pregnant too, that's why I want to move out of my parents house also, they know about but I don't want them breathing down my neck, I mean that's probably why you left your home to right? Anne just nodded.  
  
Grace had the perfect place for them to stay so the next week was spent moving their things in, well it was mostly Grace's things because Anne didn't own that many things. Grace's parents bought a lot of things for the both of them so luckily Anne had a bed and their living room had a sofa and a TV. It was a three-bedroom apartment so Anne and Grace decided to share the third bedroom as a nursery for their children.  
  
That night Anne was in her room thinking about what she had left behind. Her mom, Giles, Xander, Willow, and Angel her sweet Angel. She dreamt that night about the never forget dream, she woke up crying, crying harder then any other night she had dreamt the same dream. It was because she finally realized that it wasn't a dream because it really had happened. Now she new who the father was, her Angel. She rushed to the bathroom as the morning sickness over came her.  
  
At the same time in L.A.  
  
Angel woke up and rushed to the bathroom to throw up, just as he had the last 3 weeks. He didn't know what was wrong but he couldn't think about himself right now, Buffy was missing and he had to find her. Just as he rushed into his bathroom Cordelia stepped out of the elevator. "Geez Angel, throwing up again, if I didn't know better I would think you were pregnant." She said. "Anyway when you get cleaned up I'll take you to Sunnydale" she said as the elevator door closed.  
  
As she said those words an idea passed through Angel head but he pushed it to the back of his head. He would have to wait until he could speak to Giles and Willow about this.  
  
Two hours later Angel and Cordelia pulled up in front of Giles apartment. Angel was able to tell them his story, his whole story, without much yelling. Except from Willow who keep yelling at him about not telling Buffy about the night that they shared. After she told them that Buffy was having dreams about that night he knew that she had remembered. This warmed his heart, as much as his heart could be warmed, to know that Buffy hadn't forgotten. Then he came crashing back to reality because Buffy wasn't there, she was out there on her own possibly pregnant. This part of the story was going to be a little more difficult to tell them.  
  
"Guys I have something to tell you." Angel was about to say before he was interrupted by the one person he was hoping not to see on his trip to Sunnydale. Riley Finn. "Hey guys, sorry I'm late but…" he trailed off as he caught site of Angel. "What is he doing here?" Riley asked. "He came to help, which is a whole lot more then what you've been doing lately!" Willow said. "Angel what were you going to say before we were so rudely interrupted" she said as she glared at Riley. "Well before I say anything I need to ask Riley a personal question, When was the last time you and Buffy had sex?" "Our first time was our last time" Riley said quietly "about 2 ½ months ago." This brought a smile to Angel's face. "Well I'll tell you my theory, I think Buffy found out she was pregnant and didn't know who the father was or didn't want it to be Riley, so she ran away. Besides her and her baby's life would have been in danger if they stayed here." He said through tears "it's all my fault, if she had known about when I turned human she would have known it was my baby before she ran away. She's just trying to protect me. Knowing it would kill me to not be able to take my child to the park or watch their sports games." He broke down and cried. No one there knew what to do, they had never seen Angel act this way before. 


	3. Traitors

Chapter 3  
  
  
  
"Talk about weird" Xander blurted out as Angel and Cordelia left to go patrol. "I've never seen Angel get like that before." "I guess he's just worried about Buffy and his child." Giles spoke up for the first time in a long time. "We have to find her, for her sake and Angel's" Willow said "they are meant to be together. "Giles, are there any spell books that we haven't read that could possibly turn Angel into a human?" Willow asked "Well we could try the watchers council, we'll have to go there because they won't help us if they know what we are looking for. "Great you and I will go to England and work on a spell to turn Angel into a human, Xander and Cordelia can check some small towns that Buffy might be hiding out in and Angel can wait her in case Buffy comes back." Willow said. "Great sounds like a plan, now we just have to wait until Cordy and Angel get back." Xander replied.  
  
A few hours later Angel and Cordy walked into the apartment. After the plan was told to them everyone agreed that they should start as soon as possible. So the next day Willow and Giles got on a plane to England, Cordy and Xander went to check out the airports and bus stations to see if anyone recognized Buffy's picture and Angel stayed at Giles apartment, the sun was out and he wasn't going anywhere. No one remembered seeing Buffy at the airport so Cordy and Xander headed over to the bus station.  
  
At the bus station they found a cashier who remembered Buffy trying to decide between Iowa and Colorado. Xander knew that Buffy wouldn't to risk running into Riley so it was pretty safe to say she went to Colorado. The next bus was leaving in 45 minutes so Cordy and Xander bought tickets and sat down to wait. After about 15 minutes of silence Cordy suggested to Xander that if they did find Buffy they shouldn't tell anyone. At first Xander and thought Cordy was going nuts but as Cordy plan started to come out it sounded more and more appealing to Xander. It was simple Cordy liked Angel, Angel liked Buffy, Buffy like Angel, and Xander liked Buffy. (Anya doesn't exist in my world) If they found Buffy, Xander would offer to stay with Buffy to help raise the child and eventually Buffy should fall for him, right? Then Cordy would go back to Angel say they couldn't find Buffy and that Xander had liked it so much in Iowa that he decided to stay (like they would believe that).  
  
Xander and Cordy decided to get off the bus in Vail, Colorado. It wasn't the biggest city but it was a popular ski destination so it would be enough for Buffy. They first decided to check into a hotel and call Angel. They didn't tell him that they were in Colorado, they just told him that they had a couple of leads and would get back to him soon. That night Cordy and Xander were looking for a place to eat when they walked past a Diner called Anne's Diner. "Come on Cordy let's just eat at this place," Xander suggested. "Ah, you have got to be kidding, that place looks like a dive, and I am not eating there." Cordy protested but Xander was already inside. "Well this place better have good service, Waitress! Waitress! Can I get some help over here?" Cordy practically shouted. As the waitress turned around all you could hear was the dropping of two glasses of water. "Buffy" Cordeila and Xander whispered in unison. 


	4. First Encounter

Chapter 4:First Encounter  
  
  
  
"Buffy, I'm so glad we found you" Xander said as he and Cordy helped Buffy clean up the broken glass. As they were doing this another girl ran up to them to help.  
  
"Anne are you ok?" the mystery girl asked.  
  
"I'm fine, uh I just didn't expect to see my friends here" Buffy managed to say. "Grace, these are some friends of mine from California." "This is Cordelia and this is Xander" Buffy said as she pointed to the uninvited guests.  
  
"Hey Grace, do you think I could talk to my friends outside for a second?" Buffy asked Grace.  
  
"Sure thing, it's not like we're busy or anything" she replied as she pointed to the empty Diner.  
  
As the three friends walked out of the Diner there was only silence. Buffy was trying to think of a good excuse as to why she left, and Xander and Cordelia were just trying to think of how they could start putting their plan into action. Of course Xander was the first to speak up.  
  
"Buffy, before you saying anything, we know that you are pregnant, we figured it out and we came looking for you so that we could help." Xander said  
  
"I don't need any help, and what do you mean WE figured it out? Who else knows? And why is Cordelia here?" Buffy questioned them. Then it dawned on her, if Cordelia knew, that must mean Angel knew about the baby too.  
  
"We all know Buffy, Angel too. And trust me he wasn't very happy about it" Cordelia said. That wasn't a complete lie Cordy thought to herself.  
  
"Look I'm sure you think it's Riley's child but it's not, the baby is Angel" Buffy said quietly. "Angel can't know, it would only hurt him more. Ok?"  
  
"We promise, but I really want to help you with this baby. Let me be the father figure in this child's life." Xander slyly suggested.  
  
"Oh I think that's a great idea. Xander, you stay here with Buffy and I'll go back and make up some story about not finding Buffy and that Xander wanted to keep looking." Cordelia said with a look of satisfaction on her face.  
  
Buffy looked stunned and Xander and Cordelia thought that she was going to protest, but to their surprise and delight she didn't. She ran up to Xander and just hugged him and cried.  
  
"Xander, you would really do that for me?" Buffy asked, " I feel so alone here and I could really use a friend."  
  
"Sure, Buff, you know I'll always be here for you" Xander said as he tightly hugged Buffy back.  
  
  
  
So the plan was put into action and Xander moved in with Buffy and her friend Grace while Cordelia went back to Sunnydale told all her friends that they hadn't found Buffy but that Xander was still looking somewhere in Missouri.  
  
Slowly weeks and then months went by and no one had heard from Xander. Cordy and Angel had gone back to L.A. while Giles and Willow were in Sunnydale trying all they could to find a spell to turn Angel into a human.  
  
Then one month turned into 8 and Buffy gave birth to a healthy, fully human baby boy. She named him Liam Angel Alexander Summers. Although the baby was fine, Buffy wasn't doing so well. She had a really hard labor and had actually died during labor but the doctors were able to revive her right away.  
  
  
  
She was really weak the following weeks after little Liam came into the world so Xander had most of the responsibility of taking care of him while Buffy rested.  
  
During those months Cordelia had been trying get Angel to forget about Buffy, with no luck. He was still searching for her, that is until he heard about a the new slayer in town. Because Buffy had died during labor, a new slayer was called. True Buffy was later revived, but Angel didn't know that and he lost all hope that she was alive. Until he received a phone call from Xander. 


	5. The truth

Xander's thoughts during Chapter 4  
  
  
  
All right, she's never going to love me the way that I want her to, but at least she's not with deadboy anymore. I can give her and Liam more then he'll ever be able to give them. Xander thought bitterly.  
  
Sure he loved Buffy, and he wanted her to be happy. She was happy living in Colorado with him, wasn't she? Well he had some how convinced himself that he could take Angel's place in her heart. But he was just kidding himself. Buffy had been crying herself to sleep ever since Liam was born and there was nothing that Xander could do that would make her feel better.  
  
She deserved more then this, she deserved to be truly happy and only one person could give her a happy.  
  
That's when he decided to call Angel.  
  
While Buffy was at work and Liam was with Grace, Xander took the opportunity to call Angel.  
  
Well actually he took the opportunity to work up the courage to call Angel. He had no idea how the guy would react.  
  
Finally two hours later he finally dialed Angel's number, it rang and rang and rang. Just as he was about to hang up Angel answered.  
  
"Hello, Angel Investigations, blah blah blah." Angel said with a sad tone in his voice.  
  
Xander was tempted to hang up but he didn't. "Angel, hey this is Xander."  
  
"Xander, hey where have you been? Have you talked to Giles or anyone else?" Angel said.  
  
"Um, no I just needed to talk to you." Xander muttered  
  
"Wait, you don't know what happened?" Angel said, choking on his words. "She's dead Xander, Buffy is dead. Another slayer was called, she had to have died." Angel said as he started to cry. "I'm so sorry"  
  
"no Angel you have nothing to be sorry about" Xander said as he felt the guilt building up inside him. "I have to tell you something and I need you to hear me out before you say anything, ok?"  
  
"Sure, what's up" Angel asked  
  
"First I need to ask you something, Is there anything going on between you and Cordy right now?" Xander asked  
  
"No, why would there be, we're friends but that's it. You know I'll always stay true to Buffy, even if she is …" Angel trailed off  
  
'Well she's not dead, in fact I've been living with her for the past 8 months." Xander said.  
  
Soon the whole story came spilling out, his and Cordy's plans, meeting Buffy in the Diner, moving in with her, and most importantly the birth of his son. Xander waited for Angel to break the silence, wanting him to say something, even if he was just going to yell. But he didn't yell, all he said was that he understood. Buffy was a great woman and Xander must love her very much and that maybe Xander had a lot more to offer Buffy then he did.  
  
For some reason this upset Xander very much. "Don't you understand? She loves you, she cries every night waiting for you to come. I was being selfish, I give Buffy a happy, you do" Xander nearly shouted at Angel. "And you are going to come to Colorado sweep Buffy off her feet, get married and live happily ever after." 


	6. The meeting

"Xander, are you telling the truth?" Angel asked with an even tone, trying hard not to show just how upset he really was.  
  
"Sadly, yes I am." Xander said quietly.  
  
Cordelia, get in my office right now!! Xander heard Angel yell from the other end.  
  
"Xander, give me your address and phone number to where you and Buffy are, I'll be there as soon as I fire an employee of mine." Angel said angrily  
  
After Xander gave Angel the information the two hung up, that was when Xander noticed that he hadn't stopped shaking ever since he called Angel.  
  
Well Xander, he thought to himself, you deserve for Buffy to hate you, but let's just pray she doesn't kill you.  
  
A couple hours later Buffy and Liam walked into the apartment where Xander was pacing the floor. "Uncle Xander, uncle Xander! Give me hugs!" Little Liam said.  
  
"Hey Buff! How was work?" Xander asked  
  
"It was alright" she replied. "Do you think you could watch Liam while I take a shower?"  
  
"Sure Buff, but ah after your done, do you think we could talk? I have something to tell you." Xander asked shyly  
  
"I don't know Xan, maybe, I'm not doing so good today, A man came into the Diner that looked like Angel and I got my hopes up but of course when he turned around it wasn't him." Buffy said sadly  
  
"Well, ok but, Angel should be here in a couple of hours so I just wanted to let you know before he came. But if your too tired I'll just tell him to come back later.' Xander said as he took Liam's hand and started walking towards the door.  
  
Buffy tackled him from behind and was sitting on him with her legs pinning his arms to the ground. "Spill" she said.  
  
Any other time Xander would have loved to be in this position with Buffy but he realized that after he told her what he did she might kill him. Just then there was a knock on the door. The two looked at each other and just stared, both were very pale and looked like they wanted to throw up.  
  
Buffy slowly got up to answer the door as Xander walked briskly to the bathroom, after all it was the only room in the apartment that had a lock on the door and he wasn't going to take any chances with the two star- crossed lovers just 5 feet away.  
  
Just as Buffy was about to reach for the door, Liam beat her to it. He swung the door open with all the might that a 2 year old could, which was kind of a lot considering who his parents were.  
  
"Liam no" Buffy squeaked, but it was too late. There was Angel, standing 3 feet away from her.  
  
"Daddy!" Liam said as he wrapped his little hands around Angel's legs.  
  
Both adults looked shocked. Buffy knelt down to face her son. "Liam, how did you know that this was your father?" Buffy asked him gently  
  
"Mommy I felt it here" her son said as he pointed to his heart.  
  
This sent both adults into big sobs as the family of three just sat there in the open door way crying and hugging one another.  
  
  
  
Don't worry, there's more to come, I think 


	7. 7

"So, I guess we have a lot to talk about." Bufy said nervously as she bit her lower lip. "Why don't you sit down."  
  
Wow, was all Angel was thinking. Buffy was alive and he had a son, two things he had been secretly wishing for the last couple years.  
  
He slowly walked to the couch and sat down. Liam took this opportunity to jump on his father's lap which caught Angel by surprise and almost made him fall off the couch.  
  
"Wow Buffy, I don't know what to say, I think I'm still in shock" Angel said softly.  
  
Oh I knew he would be upset, Buffy thought, completely misinterpreting Angel's soft voice for anger. Her heart ached to see her son sitting on his father's, finally for the first time. Liam and Angel fit so nicely together and Buffy suddenly felt guilty for depriving Angel of the chance to get to know his own son. She had been upset that Angel made all these big decisions without her, and here she had gone and made the biggest decision of their lives without even thinking about Angel.  
  
"Angel, I'm . . . " Buffy started at the same time Angel started to say something.  
  
They both stopped what they were going to say and just stared at each other. Both soaking up the sight of their beloved.  
  
"Buffy, why don't you sit down" Angel said as he patted the seat next to him and Liam. "We have a lot to talk about, and a lot of decisions need to be made about our little family here."  
  
"Look, Angel I understand that you will want to see your son, but please don't take him away from me, I know you are upset but I'm sure we can work out some sort of arrangement." Buffy babbled, "Liam is all I have and .  
  
Angel silenced her with a soft kiss, it didn't last long, but it was enough to leave Buffy breathless for days.  
  
"I know I have made a lot of bad choices in my long life" Angel started " but letting you get away again isn't going to be one of them" Angel said as he slid off the couch and onto one knee "Miss Elizabeth Anne Summers, Will you do me the honor of being my wife?"  
  
"Say yes mommy, say yes" Liam squealed from his spot on the couch.  
  
"Yes, My answer is yes" Buffy said as tears streamed down her face. 


End file.
